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tv   ABC World News Now  ABC  February 3, 2011 2:05am-4:00am PST

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got talent" again, yeah. >> between l.a. and new york mainly. and obviously, chicago as often as you'd like me, oprah. oprah: i hear you've become now is that true? obsessive freak. how many twitter followers do you oprah: i think 4 million. need some help here. i need you to order every one of your @piersmorgan right now. do it oprah: do it for you? oprah: ah, i might mention oprah: well, i wish you the because i want to continue to >> well, thank you, oprah. can i say, again, thank you. because possible, and i owe you. so anything you ever want from about it is, when you know
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and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan. you'll get this free information kit... as with all medicare supplement plans, you can keep your own doctor and hospital that accepts # medicare, call this toll-free number now. welcome back. welcome back. yesterday would have been the 64th birthday of actress farrah fawcett. she passed away last year after a long battle with cancer. >> in tribute to the former charlie angel, memorabilia was donated to the smithsonian,
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including the iconic red bathing suit. here's claire shipman. >> reporter: she was the golden girl who defined an era. >> good morning, angels. >> good morning, charlie. >> reporter: from her role on "charlie's angels" to that iconic swimsuit poster. 12 million copies sold. the best-selling poster in history. and a year and a half after her death, her long-time love, ryan o'neal is on a personal and public journey. >> it is definitely an honor. >> reporter: he's brought that red swimsuit and some other quintessential farrah fawcett memorabilia for an exhibit at the smithsonian museum of american history. i don't know any gentleman of my era who did not have one of those posters on his wall. >> she would never wear a bikini because she had a scar on her stomach from some early childhood surgery. so she never wore a two-piece. >> reporter: do you remember when you first saw the poster? >> no. >> reporter: no. >> no. did i have it in my room?
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no. >> reporter: you didn't have it in your room. >> i do now. >> reporter: do you really? >> sure. she's everywhere in my life still. >> reporter: his almost every word, even his attempts at banter, still laced with grief at the loss of his romantic companion of 30 years to cancer. she had such an impact on people with what she did at the end of her life. >> yeah. yeah. the end of her life. that was hard. >> reporter: still hard for you to talk about. how are you doing? >> how am i? >> reporter: how are you? >> i'm okay. i'm lonely. what year is that? >> reporter: doesn't say what year. must have been 1976. >> something like that. >> reporter: yeah, i think so. and then a farrah doll. you have one of those. >> i have my own farrah doll. the wig is always coming off. >> reporter: all of it will be part of the american pop culture collection, which includes dorothy's ruby red slippers and
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the original muppet team. what resonates, what really belongs in the museum of american history and what doesn't make the cut? >> sometimes it's very hard, but with an image like the poster, the farrah poster, it's not hard at all because that poster is emblazoned on so many people's memories. >> reporter: but, in fact, what really may connect the public to farrah fawcett, her public displays of vulnerability. >> no film, no film. >> reporter: especially her brutally honest examination of her own struggle with cancer in her documentary "farrah's story". >> she had no compunction. she had no problem doing that at all. it was never a question. >> reporter: what do you think she would want her legacy to be? >> she was a mother. that was the thing that appealed to her most. to raise her son. and she adored him. and i think that's -- that's the tragedy of this is that she lost him and he lost her.
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>> reporter: and, of course, her son redman o'neal has been in and out of rehab for drug abuse but he's here with his father and he's working to made his mother proud. claire shipman, abc news, washington. >> everyone knows that famous red bathing suit. she actually framed it herself and had it stored in a warehouse in l.a. before it wet went to the museum. but a piece of history. >> i never thought it was burnt orange. i thought it was red, also. >> it faded over time. it was red, now more orangy. >> elton john has a serious message for billy joel and billy joel quickly responds. >> get nasty. also, how lindsay lohan got in trouble after stopping at a swanky jewelry store. don't miss your skinny. swanky jewelry store.
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♪ skinny so skinny i always thought that the world of frenemies was populated by women. >> not in this case. >> but if you're wondering,
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some male frenemies, elton john and billy joel. >> what a war between those two. >> you probably heard the first part. elton john was doing an interview in "rolling stone" and he basically called billy joel to the mat. he said, more or less, you know, you are not doing well professionally. he says, you basically are lazy. he says, you can write another song, you could do a lot of things. he also poked at him and said, you know, when you go to rehab, you're going to what he called rehab light. he said when i go to rehab, i cleaned floors. i really got into it. he says, as a friend, this is tough love. people adore you. they love you and they respect you. you should be able to do better than you're doing right now. so billy joel came out with his response. and a lot of people anticipated he would say something like, i hate him. instead, he says, i've worked with elton for such a long time and i've enjoyed our relationship too much to let something as random as these comments change my affection for him. elton is just being elton. >> that's a gracious -- i guess that's gracious, more gracious than folks would have expected. why was elton up in billy's face. >> i don't know.
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age difference is 63 for elton and 61 for billy joel. they are good friends. they've toured a lot. so like i said, in elton john's defense, he says this is tough love. he says, i really just want to help him out. you have demons and you're not getting rid of them. >> maybe they can have a drink and work it out. lindsay lohan, sadly and annoyingly back in the news again. apparently there was an incident back on january 22nd, in a pricey jewelry store in venice in the l.a. area and apparently was caught on videotape stealing a necklace worth $2,500, which for her is not a lot of money. apparently there's definitive evidence she took this thing. so once there was a warrant to search her house for this necklace, mysteriously a friend of the actress returned the necklace back to the store saying here you go but it's still under investigation. if she's busted for this, it violates the probation she's been under since 1960 whatever for drunk driving or whatever it seems like. just back in trouble again. this isn't the first brush. in 2007 she was accused of stealing $10,000 worth of shoes and accessories from a former friend. then in 2008, just a year later,
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she accident al ally grabbed an $11,000 mink coat from a new york club and photographed with it later which is how the owner found out. just keep your hands to yourself, lindsay lohan. >> my heart breaks for her though because it's such a sad, messed up -- >> make her pay. any much way -- >> if you watch "snl," they did a transgindzer skit, mpromoting something they called once daily estromax, a pill to give you all the sex-changing hormones you need. take a look. >> because i don't want to spend my day taking estrogen but i do want to become a woman. >> i'm becoming the person i want to be. and without the hassle. thanks, estro-maxx. >> as you can imagine they're demanding an apologize. they are publicly asking for an apology now. >> that's their whole history of
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politically incorrect. i wonder if they'll bow down and offer an apology. >> they say it was blatantly anti-transgender, the whole segment. >> we'll see. and if you wake up often in the middle of the night... rest is here, on the wings of lunesta. lunesta helps you fall asleep and stay asleep, so you can wake up feeling rested. when taking lunesta, don't drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase these risks. allergic reactions, such as tongue or throat swelling, occur rarely and may be fatal. side effects may include unpleasant taste, headache, dizziness and morning drowsiness. ask your doctor if lunesta is right for you. get lunesta for a $0 co-pay at lunesta.com.
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here's some stories to watch today on abc news. president obama visits pennsylvania state university today. he is delivering a message about energy efficiency and job creation. astronaut mark kelly will leave his wife's bedside today. he is, of course, married to congresswoman gabby giffords. he will be attending the national prayer breakfast in washington. and preordering begins today for verizon's version of the iphone. the cheapest model costs $200. finally this half hour, apple's ipad has changed a lot of how people do just about everything these days, but can it actually change forever how we read the newspaper? >> rupert murdoch certainly hopes so with the launch of the first ever ipad-only newspaper.
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we are a closer look at "the daily". the bbc's rory cellan jones has a look. >> reporter: he's the man who broke the print unions and brought satellite tv to britain. now rupert murdoch has embarked on what could be an even riskier venture. >> ladies and gentlemen, "the daily." [ applause ] >> reporter: it's a newspaper only available for now on apple's ipad. "the dale" is a mixture of series serious news, celebrity gossip and high-tech tricks aimed at american readers willing to pay 99 cents a week, about 60 pence, to download it each day. >> no paper, no multimillion dollar process, no tracks, and we're passing on these savings to the reader. >> reporter: the papers are continuing to see readers just melt away. plenty of them are going online but they don't seem inclined to pay when so much news is available for free on the web. so the newspaper groups have latched onto this device in a rather desperate hope that it can provide an income for
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journalism. some traditional papers and magazines have persuaded readers to pay for ipad additions. though subscribers' early enthusiasm seems to fade. >> everybody is desperate for some glimmer of light to the extent that probably most people are attaching too much significance to devices such as the ipad. but i think major news organizations know there's not one way forward. no one device will save the newspaper industry. >> reporter: it may be cheap to run, but skeptics say "the daily" won't find the 500,000 subscribers it needs to cover costs. for once though murdoch's rivals in the hard press newspaper trade are hoping he does succeed. rory cellan jones, bbc news. >> in case you're wondering, this whole thing is put together by reporters in new york and los angeles as well as a network of freelancers out there. but pretty cool. everything at your fingertips. >> they say there are 17 million people with ipads so their thought process is if 5% of people buy this app, it should
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be a success. >> you could be look@ñ@ñ@ñ@ñ@ñ@o
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this morning on "world news now," more vicious violence in egypt. today's deadly unrest, political uncertainty and unsafe conditions in cairo. we have the latest on the gunfire and fighting now erupting between the pro and anti-government protesters. it's thursday, february 3rd. good morning, and thanks for being with us on this thursday. i'm vinita nair. >> and i'm rob nelson. we'll take you to cairo for the latest on the fatalities, the injuries and the diplomacy in that country in this ever-changing situation. >> and chicago is struggling this morning. you can see we're moving from egypt to the other big topic of the day, and that is the weather. crews there are actually digging out cars one by one. this is something i've never seen.
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you can see the forklifts getting under them because those snowplows still have to get through. we'll have the latest on this monster storm and its impact far beyond chicago. >> is it april yet? really, come on. and calls for help. who dialed 911 to complain about charlie sheen's behavior? the real-life hollywood drama. man, rough life for charlie these days. but before we get to that, of course, to egypt, a tense, angry and politically charged nation this morning. >> it seems neither opponents nor the supporters of president hosni mubarak will step down. >> abc's alex marquardt is in cairo now with the very latest. good morning to you, alex. >> reporter: good morning, rob and vinita. it is now 9:30 in egypt. and those who actually managed to sleep last night are waking up to reports of new violence. i'm watching tense scenes on tahrir square right now where pro-government forces are facing off against anti-government demonstrators. i'm watching people breaking big stones into smaller rocks for throwing.
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there are chants of revolution, revolution until victory. the egyptian government says that five people were killed overnight and 800 were injured. of course, it could be higher. right now there's a relative lull compared to earlier when heavy gunfire broke out in the square before dawn. al jazeera showed video of the injured being dragged away. now, this follows a pitched battle yesterday when the two groups charged each other throwing rocks and really anything they could find. molotov cocktails were added to the mix that set buildings on fire. protesters suspect many of these pro-mubarak forces are actually state police. some of these pro-mubarak forces rode into the crowd yesterday on horseback and on camels, which -- onto the tahrir square, which has been a staging ground for this anti-government uprising, and what really these days -- or today, rather, looks like a battleground. the army has not intervened. they are urging anti-government protesters to go home. things right now, relatively
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calmer than they were just a few hours ago. but could very, very quickly turn violent again. >> in the middle of all this we have heard about the americans that are stuck. a lot of them still trying to get out. what's happening with them? what's the latest? >> reporter: that's right. there are 50,000 americans registered with the embassy here in cairo, but there are far more. over 1,000 have evacuated. the embassy here is telling americans who want to leave that they should get to the airport. the state department is offering charters out of egypt. and now that the curfew is over, they can head to the airport and they will continue offering charters until the demand is gone. >> all right. alex, thanks so much, reporting live from the ever-changing situation in cairo. thanks for the report. and while hosni mubarak may be losing power, he will be keeping his tremendous wealth. experts estimate that mubarak's investments are worth between $40 billion and $70 billion. billion. analysts say the assets were most likely deposited in banks outside of egypt. mubarak and his family
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accumulated all that money from foreign ventures dating back to 1981. now to australia where a powerful cyclone left behind some major devastation. the cyclone was the strongest there in more than a century. winds in the northeast part of the country topped 190 miles an hour, sending thousands of people to shelters. that same area was hit recently by some historic flooding. the winter storm that hit the midwest is also making some history. >> schools are closed for a second day in a row in chicago. where a major snowstorm buried hundreds of cars. t.j. winick has the latest from chicago. good morning, t.j. >> reporter: good morning, rob and vinita. here in chicago, things are much better than they were 24 hours ago. i want to show you the corner of michigan avenue and chicago avenue here. very well plowed as are the sidewalks. a lot of folks out and about as well doing errands after a very scary and dark 24 hours. let's show you some of the snow here. pretty light and fluffy. but when you're talking about nearly 2 feet of this stuff,
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forget about it. the roads were an absolute mess. especially lake shore drive running along lake michigan. at about 8:00 on tuesday night, a bus stalled out in the northbound lane, and hundreds of car, as many as 900, were trapped in the snow. it got so bad, in fact, that firefighters had to come in on snowmobiles to pull about 250 people out of their cars. many folks just ended up staying in their cars, sleeping there overnight, spending about 12 to 15 hours. >> it's been ten hours since i've been stuck out here. literally the snow is right at the top of the doors. >> everybody was, you know, just trying to stay huddled in their car. i know a number of people ran out of gas. >> i was inside with my neighbor next door here for about almost seven hours. >> reporter: at chicago's o'hare airport, flights were canceled. they're hoping to get things up and running again on thursday with a full schedule of flights back up on friday. this is the third worst storm in chicago's history. just over 20 inches. it is the worst february storm out here ever. rob and vinita? even states as far south as
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texas have been hit with the same arctic blast. there were rolling blackouts there after power use hit a record high. in several other states an ice storm knocked out power and caused a lot of damage. here now is barbara pinto. >> reporter: in the wake of this monster storm, 2,000 miles of misery from oklahoma to new england. a dangerous mix of ice, wind and snow that toppled live power lines, knocking out heat and electricity in freezing temperatures. how have you been heating your house? >> light the furnace. >> reporter: by furnace. richard andrews means his kitchen stove. at the height of the storm more than 250,000 people lost power in ohio, filling shelters. >> when we left the house it was about 40 degrees. and we expect it to get a whole lot colder, so that's why we're here. >> reporter: this is the problem. every single one of the power lines here is crusted in thick, heavy ice.
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hundreds of linemen worked in bitter cold. their worries -- >> more ice accumulation, weight on the wires with the ice, and then the heavy winds. >> reporter: at least eight states have called in the national guard after ferocious winds and nearly a foot of blinding snow broke records in oklahoma and toppled rooftops in connecticut. blizzard conditions shut down hundreds of miles of interstate from missouri to oklahoma city. and repairs to downed power lines closed i-65 in indiana. flying was no better. take a look at chicago o'hare. it went from a busy air space to a virtual standstill. all commercial flights canceled. as this home video shows, the only speedy transportation, at least on indiana streets involved ice skates. barbara pinto, abc news, indianapolis. federal disaster aid is now on its way to oklahoma. now that president obama has declared a state of emergency there. the state was paralyzed after being hit this week with 20 inches of snow, sleet and ice. and now windchill warnings have
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been issued for 22 counties in the north and west. this unusual arctic weather is even hitting border cities in mexico. snow fell in juarez where a state of emergency has been now declared. schools and businesses are closed. they have to conserve power. snow fell across the border in el paso, texas where temperatures dropped to a record 7 degrees. >> dare we look at weather today? >> no. >> freezing rain and up to an inch of snow in southern texas. a few inches more in houston, shreveport, jackson, mississippi. showers and thunderstorms from florida to south carolina. some snow showers in northern wisconsin and rain in the pacific northwest. >> 48 in seattle. 51 in portland. teens from minneapolis to kansas city. 27 here in the big apple. and we're all jealous of the folks in miami. they're up to 80 degrees today. well, o.j. simpson's appeal efforts have hit a judicial dead end. three nevada supreme court justices have denied simpson's request for a rehearing. simpson is serving 9 to 33 years
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in a nevada prison on kidnapping, armed robbery and other charges. could wikileaks be the next noble peace prize winner? a norwegian lawmaker has nominated the website for this year's award. the legislator says wikileaks promotes peace by holding governments accountable. there's no guarantee, wikileaks, of course, will win. there are hundreds of nominees being considered. iphone envy is about to end for millions of people after nearly four years of at&t exclusivity, verizon wireless starts taking preorders today for apple's iphone 4. only existing verizon customers can place their orders online and they may even receive their phones before they go on sale to the general public which happens a week from today. >> at&t getting nervous. they could lose 30% of customers to verizon, according to some estimates. we'll see how it plays out. well, this might qualify as the cutest super bowl story we've done all week, and it stars some of the youngest green bay packer fans around. >> ah, they are starting them off early at a hospital in western wisconsin.
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that is where all the newborns are getting their own packers towels. the giveaway ends with sunday's big game in dallas. >> that is cute. there's no word on whether it will continue if the pack beats the steelers. one father says no matter what, he hopes the towel creates another life-long packer fan. start them young out there in wisconsin. >> that is just so darned cute. show the video and go to break. ah. ♪ stand up and holler
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well, for a e we'v well, for awhile, of course, we've been talking about charlie sheen and his hard partying ways, a lifestyle
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that has now reportedly sent the actor back to rehab. >> for the first time we're hearing from the "two and a half men" star himself. here's kabc's leanne suter. >> 911. >> reporter: desperate to get charlie sheen help at his home in the exclusive mulholland estates, his friend and former neighbor calls 91 1. >> i just got a call from the residence of charlie sheen from a secretary. apparently he's intoxicated. >> reporter: plastic surgeon dr. paul nassif, seen right here on "real housewives of beverly hills" on bravo with his wife adrienne maloof, made the call early thursday morning. he told them he used to live near him in the gated community. the conversation lasted about five minutes. most of the time spent trying to get the address to sheen's home. >> he's saying, don't call 911. but got him on the phone and he was very, very intoxicated and also apparently in a lot pain. it was kind of weird, the phone call i received. >> reporter: at one point he said those at sheen's home were afraid to call. sheen was taken to the hospital and released later that day. the star of cbs' "two and a half
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men" is now in rehab. production on his show shut down. sheen spoke out for the first time about his latest troubles, releasing a statement saying, quote, i have a lot of work to do to be able to return the support i've received from so many people. to my fans, your good wishes have touched me very much, like errol flynn who had to put down his sword on occasion. i just want to say, thank you. leanne suter for abc news. >> they say executives at cbs have been pushing for him to go to rehab for quite a while. he has twin boys and two young daughters and all those folks are in the custody of his two ex-wives. really, the job is the only thing he has left, if he's able to keep that. >> i know, and now that we're hearing from the porn star who reportedly partied with him, there's a lot of things going on in terms of tennis ball size cocaine. >> this is more than just a partying lifestyle. this is a problem. hopefully rehab does what it's supposed to do. coming up, we're returning to one of our top stories this morning. >> the tremendous snowstorm that socked chicago and several cities in the midwest. the attempts this morning to dig
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out before rush hour. stay with us.
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welcome back, everybody. well, whether you called it the monster storm or the mrs. of oz or chuck snorris, the fact is this week's storm lived up to the hype. >> the weather is clearing but up to 100 million are still digging out and braving some freezing temperatures. for more here is american landscape coverage from across the midwest. >> this is abc 7 news at 10:00, chicago's number one news. >> lake shore drive still shut down tonight as about 100 vehicles remain stranded. the drive has been closed since the third largest blizzard on record in chicago gathered strength last night. >> work could go on all night. leah hope is there live. leah? >> reporter: i would like to start with a little good news.
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all of the cars north of fullerton and the buses north of fullerton have been cleared. at this hour, we count probably about 50 cars and buses yet to be towed. michelle reed found her car but last night she was among the hundreds stuck on lake shore drive. >> the worst thing was not knowing what was going on. we didn't see anybody until like around midnight. like, no cops, no firemen, no rescue workers. no one to tell us what was even going on and to help us out. >> reporter: the city was towing abandoned cars all day from the drive. some ended up on city streets or lake front lots. tonight some motorists who found their vehicles still had trouble leaving. >> i popped the hood. it was dead, obviously. there was snow, a layer of snow. i couldn't even see my engine. >> reporter: in the daylight it was easy to see the problem. hundreds of vehicles in the northbound lanes abandoned during last night's blizzard. motorists and their passengers were caught on lake shore drive for hours. before they opted to evacuate or
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officials told them to evacuate. they had been trapped by accidents ahead of them and the traffic behind them during the very worst of the snowstorm. >> news channel 5 on your side starts now. >> at this time last night, freezing rain was coming down and roads were treacherous. now 24 hours later the massive winter storm has moved on, but the problems it brought still linger. among the dozens seeking shelter from the cold, seniors with special medical needs. wilma stewart is recovering from a stroke. >> i live by myself. and i woke up. it was freezing, and i called a cab to come get me and bring me here. >> reporter: much of the canton area remains in the dark. after a massive ice storm that brought tree limbs down on power lines. aep crews from across the region are working virtually around the clock to restore power. hundreds of crews that are
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manning these trucks are working 16-hour shifts. at the end of those shifts, they get onto these buses and they're shuttled over to hotels for a good night's rest and then it's right back at it the next day. back at the shelter, wilma stays busy quilting and praying. >> just asking the lord to bring me through so i can go back home. >> channel 7 action news starts right now. >> some drivers are spinning their wheels tonight. an arctic blast threatens to turn mounds of snow and slush into ice. >> we turn to glenda louis in detroit's west side in a neighborhood stuck with a whole lot of snow. glenda? >> reporter: the streets are still packed. when you get to the side street it's like the storm stopped in time here, making for plenty sticky situations. how did you get stuck? >> well, it's the weather. it's the weather. >> reporter: yeah. i mean, you were just backing out or -- >> i was turning the corner. >> reporter: and that's all "e," as he calls himself, would say about the sticky situation he
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got into at st. mary's in pickford when he took a turn too fast. but nana knows the whole story. in fact, she was part of it. >> i was just passing by and he almost slide into me. >> reporter: instead of getting upset, nena was neighborly, grabbing a couple of her own shovels and one by one single file we saw several plow trucks go by. all city officials would tell us is they are working as fast as possible to get these streets clear. >> literally, that's the third worst storm in the history of chicago. it's a real mess out there. we shouldn't forget the fact, for all the headaches it caused, several people also died as a result of the weather as well. i think the national weather service called it a winter storm of historic proportion. >> i think one of the other things we found out in the storm is that the forecasters got it right. how rare is it that they actually -- >> first time for everything. >> no, but we usually hear storms are going to be bad or the worst, but at least in chicago they're saying they were well prepared for what was
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coming. they knew there would be thunder snow. a change in the way they look at models helped them predict this one. >> let's hope punxsutawney phil is just as right as the forecasters on this one. around his house. these people chose freedom over restrictions. independence over limitations. they chose mobility. they chosehe scooter store. and this is the team of mobility experts who made it all happen. ii great news, you've been approved for payment. dr. cruz, i'm calling on behalf ofmarie stanford. and they can make it happen for you. hi, i'm doug harrison, if you're living with limited mobility, call the scooter store today. i promise, no other company will work harder to make you mobile or do more to ensure your total satisfaction. i expected they'd help me file some paperwork with medicare and my insurance. i never expected them to be so nice or work so hard to get me a power chair at no cost to me.
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sleep well, on the wings of lunesta. >> announcer: "world news now" delivers your "morning papers." it is funny to me sometimes how much americana makes its way overseas. what do you think is the most popular fast food place in china? >> mcdonald's? >> close. >> kfc. >> kfc. >> is it? >> it is. >> they eat it during the holidays. >> it's huge. there's colonel smiles down on tiananmen square. it's huge in china. you can imagine that population how much they consume. they're taking an interesting american approach to promoting what they're calling the soft roll fish fillet. they're using this actor that looks and sounds like president obama to sell this new fish fillet. take a quick listen of how they're selling this sandwich. >> for you, for your stomach, for a better taste. [ speaking foreign language ]
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>> hey, if it works, it works. i guess president faux-bama, as they're calling him, is pitching this. this commercial is hitting the air waves and apparently is hugely popular out here. we discovered this through a guy, obama foodorama which is the blog about obama food and this is the one that kind of brought this to light. it's out of "usa today." interesting. >> does that mean we're getting fish at our kfcs? >> i don't -- >> that is a the real question we're wondering. is kfc going to be like long john's? >> i think that would raise too many eyebrows in this country. in china it's working. >> i'm impressed with his english for his speak and then the rest was -- >> exactly. you go. this next story, you be the judge, is it animal abuse or is it just some good old super bowl fun. you're about to meet a poodle by the name of desiree and they're calling her the packer poodle. apparently her owner said if the packers make it to the super
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bowl, i am going to, you know, sacrifice my dog? i don't know what you call this. mutilate my dog? it actually is very well done. the "g" is clear and the poodle looks happy. she says the dog is so well trained that when you say, go pack, go, the poodle will bark on command. >> we've done a lot of animal stories this week leading up to the super bowl about crazy things folks are doing with their pets. i wonder if the dog likes it, hates it, wonders what are you doing here? but anyway, interesting story too out of here about the mona lisa, the painting we know and love here. apparently italian researchers have come out with some new findings or theories, say a male apprentice, long-time companion and possibly lover of leonardi da vinci was the main influence and model for the mona lisa paintings. other researchers are saying, look, no, this is totally groundless, don't believe it but the dude looks like a lady. they're saying leonardo's boy toy was really the real mona
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lisa. >> we just heard about the hiddenenenenenenenenenenenenenen
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this morning on "world news now," midwest monster storm. today's monumental task, digging out hundreds of stuck cars on chicago's lake shore drive. it is a storm that will go down in history during this unforgettable and seemingly relentless winter. it is thursday, february 3rd. i think the country is all feeling for chicago right now. >> yeah. they took a big hit. >> they certainly did. good morning and thanks for being with us. i'm vinita nair. >> and i'm rob nelson. well, that same winter storm literally coated parts of the country with ice, snapping countless power lines. this morning the very tough job out there for utility crews. >> and in egypt this morning, heavy gunfire before dawn. what led to another deadly
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clash. so many of these images have been from tahrir square. we're now hearing injuries close to about a thousand, and the fascinating thing to me, 200 just thursday morning. so in one hour, 200 of those. >> and that's incredible. turning more violent, even members of the media covering the story. you'll see more of that coming up. on a lighter note, cashing in on the super bowl. how dallas is preparing for an influx of, get this, prostitutes and pimps. interesting weekend coming up in the big "d," your home city. >> yeah, you're not going to want to miss that one, are you? of course, we begin with the millions of folks digging out from the monster storm. take a look as more than a thousand cars are being removed from iconic lake shore drive in the windy city. imagine the agony of being stuck in the car as the blizzard blew through. >> i've never seen footage like that in my entire life. of course, this wasn't any blizzard. it was the third worst storm in the city's history. chris bury reports now from chicago.
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>> reporter: lake shore drive usually so lovely, looked like an apocalyptic movie set. mile after mile nearly a thousand cars stuck in snow so deep they could not possibly escape. in this section of lake shore drive just a mile north of downtown, we've come across hundreds and hundreds of trapped cars as far as the eye can see. we checked for stranded motorists and found jocko collins. he came back after spending most of the night trapped in his truck. how long were you inside? >> i was inside with my neighbor next door here for about almost sketch hours. >> reporter: the monster storm roared in at rush hour. like a winter hurricane. multiple accidents backed up traffic so cars, trucks, even city buses were trapped. some ran out of gas. what was it like? >> cold and everybody was, you know, just trying to stay huddled in their car. >> reporter: all night long firefighters fanned out on snowmobiles to rescue the stranded.
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carol ann tracy and her mother spent the night in this city bus. >> it was a bit disastrous. we were stuck in there for nine hours or so. >> reporter: others chronicled their ordeals on youtube. >> it's been ten hours since i've been stuck out here. literally the snow is right at the top of the doors. >> reporter: for 18 hours, gale-force winds topping 60 miles an hour smacked the city and anyone who ventured outside. and chicago faces days of digging out. this is going to be an enormous job to get these roads moving again. chris bury, abc news, along lake shore drive in chicago. the giant storm also left many cities dangerously coated in ice. and that meant lights out in places like harrisburg, pennsylvania, where the power lines just couldn't handle the weight of the snow. hundreds of thousands were left without power at the height of the storm. and to make matters even worse, temperatures have now plunged to record lows. and as you can imagine, it's
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been a very unusual week for hospitals from the great plains to new england because of all the rough weather out there. doctors at a philadelphia emergency room ordered twice as many x-rays as they normally do this week because of patients, you guessed it, who fell on all that ice. and in chicago, iowa city and burlington, vermont, hospitals, virtually no patients have shown up there because of unsafe road conditions. and on long island, new york, there's an increase in complaints about chest pains from patients who have been shoveling all that snow. >> makes sense, but it is fascinating, isn't it? >> i know. well, now for a look at your thursday forecast, it can't get any worse now, can it? but a new storm is bringing sleet and up to an inch of snow to southern texas. up to 3 inches in shreveport and jackson, mississippi. showers and thunderstorms in orlando, tallahassee and atlanta. light snow in northern wisconsin and some showers in the pacific northwest. >> meanwhile, 48 in seattle. 32 in salt lake city. and 61 in sacramento. teens in minneapolis and kansas city. 21 in dallas. 27 here in new york. and 22 in boston.
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we turn now to our other major developing story this morning. the ongoing political chaos engulfing egypt. >> it is already midmorning in cairo and events through the night there have been violent, even deadly. for the latest now, we're joined on the phone by alex marquardt. hi, alex. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, rob and vinita. that's right, it's 8:30 a.m. in cairo, and already we're seeing scenes of a continued standoff between anti-government protesters and pro-mubarak forces on tahrir square. already this morning i've seen rocks and molotov cocktails being thrown back and forth. there's lots of chanting. but more deadly, this comes after heavy gunfire broke out on the square before dawn. al jazeera is reporting that five people have been killed. this increased violence broke out this morning after a pitched battle on wednesday. the two groups charged each other, throwing rocks and really anything else they could find. in the evening, molotov cocktails were added to the mix that set buildings on fire. several people killed. hundreds injured, as you mentioned. protesters suspect many of the pro-mubarak forces to be state
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police. some of these pro-mubarak forces rode horses and camels into the square, which has been a staging ground for this anti-government uprising over the last ten days and has now turned into something of a battleground. the army that has been positioned around the square has not intervened, instead urging anti-government protesters to go home. >> and, alex, with violence so clearly on the rise in that area, any new instructions for americans from the state department who were still there in egypt? >> reporter: well, the state department has been actively tweeting. they have told abc news that they will continue to organize charter flights as long as there is a demand. they have said that americans who want to get out of egypt today should head to the airport now that curfew is over. >> all right. and as we heard too, reports that some of that violence is now being confronted by members of the media, so stay safe for sure. again, alex marquardt reporting live from cairo. our christiane amanpour is also covering the deadly unrest in the egyptian capital while
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reporting from cairo's liberation square yesterday, she ran into some angry supporters of president hosni mubarak. they clearly didn't want her around. check it out. >> we have american -- okay, go. >> reporter: you want us to go? >> yes. i want you to go from here. >> reporter: why? >> because we hate you. we hate americans. >> reporter: you hate us? >> yes, i hate you and i hate you. >> reporter: why do you hate us? >> you are not good. go. you are not with us. >> reporter: okay. >> we want mubarak. we want mubarak. >> okay. >> may i have a word? >> reporter: no, not right now. we left that angry crowd and got into our car. they forced us into our car, and as we started to drive off, they hit the car with their fists over and over again and threw a rock through the front window.
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the glass is shattered all over our driver. are you okay? did they hurt you? >> no. >> reporter: did they hit you? >> no, no. >> reporter: christiane amanpour, abc news, cairo. >> and, of course, you can stay with abc news throughout the morning and throughout the entire day for the latest on the rapidly changing situation in egypt. we'll have live reports from cairo on both "america this morning" and later today on "good morning america." people in northeastern australia are assessing the damage this morning after they were hit by the most powerful storm in nearly a century. thousands have been left homeless, and some communities are still cut off by floodwaters and closed roads. at the height of the storm winds gusted to nearly 190 miles an hour. the area has already been hit hard by months of flooding which left at least 35 people dead. in political news this morning, republican efforts to completely repeal the new health care law have now been defeated. in a strictly party line vote, the senate killed the repeal effort as expected. even before the vote, republicans conceded their push to have the law withdrawn was
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pretty much doomed. however, senators did agree to do away with a certain business paperwork requirement. that's pretty much a minor change that the president says he will accept. there has been another major settlement in the case of sexual abuse by catholic priests. the diocese of wilmington, delaware, has agreed to pay $77 million to more than 100 alleged victims. the church has also agreed to release all documents related to the case. lawyers for the victims say such a release is an important step in making sure the abuse doesn't happen again in the future. former secretary of state donald rumsfeld suggests that president bush was immediately focused on attacking iraq. after the 9/11 attacks. in his autobiography out next week, rumgs is largely unapologetic about his handling of the war but he says his biggest regret was not stepping down after the abu ghraib prison scandal. rumsfeld describes president bush in complimentary terms but
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he was critical of his management style. she's been around longer than the statue of liberty and she is still going strong. >> a tiny town in cuba claims to be the home of the oldest person in the world. her friends and neighbors just celebrated juana rodriguez's 126th birthday. juana lost her sight in recent years but she's in relatively good health and mentally agile. >> a government document showing she was born in 1885 is not recognized by guinness so the world's old effort person title officially belonged to a 114-year-old american women. and she's actually outlived two of her kids. three of them are still alive. 6 grandkids, 15 great grandkids and 4 great, great, great grandkids. >> what a walking piece of history. unbelievable. more "world news now" coming up. 15 great grandkids and 4 great, great, great grandkids. >> what a walking piece of history. unbelievable. more "world news now" coming up.
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welcome back, everybody. some news from hollywood. this morning troubled starlet lindsay lohan back in the news again, this time for allegedly stealing a necklace. >> the actress, who is already on probation, has returned the jewelry saying it was just a misunderstanding. but could another famous lohan mug shot now be on the way?
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here's kabc's rob hayes. >> reporter: the sign in the window says "open" but the front door to kamofie was locked. customers turned away, including "desperate housewives" star marcia cross. >> are you open? >> reporter: but it's celebrity shopper lindsay lohan who is heaping all this attention on a small venice jewelry store. according to lapd investigators, the 24-year-old actress was shopping at kamofie on january 22nd. during that time she allegedly tried on a necklace, a one-of-a-kind design listed for $2,500. when store owners noticed the necklace was missing after lohan left, they called police. >> we were given a report listing her as a possible suspect. anything over $950 in value becomes a grand theft so it becomes a felony investigation. >> reporter: but lieutenant jeff burt says just as detectives obtained a search warrant to enter her
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venice home, one of lohan's associates dropped the necklace off at lapd's pacific division station around 8:30 last night. >> dropped it off to our night watch detectives. i was notified. i came in, examined it, ensured that it was the necklace that we were seeking. >> reporter: with the necklace in hand, lapd canceled its search warrant, but that doesn't mean lohan is in the clear. the troubled actress is already on probation for a 2007 dui and could be facing possible charges for allegedly assaulting a counselor at the betty ford clinic during her last rehab stay. now, this latest scrape with the law comes just three weeks after she was released from the ford clinic. the owner of the jewelry store rushed past camera crews without commenting but her husband jeff cayman did speak briefly. >> since she gave the necklace back, are you guys pressing charges? >> we aren't at liberty to say that. we're going to let the police handle that. so we're just letting the police do what they need to do and we're here to support whatever they ask of us. >> reporter: in los angeles, rob hayes reporting for abc news. >> and as was widely reported, she, of course, did go to rehab,
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but now we also know she's under investigation because apparently during the rehab stint, which was a couple of months, she's reportedly assaulted an employee there at betty ford. >> and the employee decided ultimately not to press charges in the case but like you said it's still under investigation so lindsay cannot escape bad headlines. >> i know. >> it's sad in a way. >> your heart just breaks for her but at the same time she needs help. >> clearly. well, coming up, pimps, prostitutes and football fans. >> the feel-good story of the day. the sex business in dallas during this busy super bowl weekend. what police can expect is coming up next. police can expect is coming up next.
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with super bowl sunday coming up, the city of dallas is getting redy for an onslaught of fans, celebrities and hookers. >> that's right. it's believed that big sporting events just like these attract big prostitution rings. jason whitely of our affiliate
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wfaa takes a closer look. >> reporter: the predictions are dire. >> i think it will be like nothing we've ever experienced before. >> reporter: not for the game. but number of prostitutes it attracts. >> traffickers follow the money and there's a whole lot of money that comes with the super bowl. i think it's enough to say it's an epidemic. >> reporter: dina graze runs traffic 911 and is among those who say the super bowl brings an alarming increase in underage girls sold for sex. >> as i mentioned, the super bowl is a major draw, unfortunately, for human trafficking. >> reporter: texas attorney general greg abbott gave reporters similar warnings. [ sirens ] >> reporter: but the one question that no one can answer is how do you know? because pimps and prostitutes don't register anywhere. but what makes this problem so much worse during the super bowl turns out similar stories about the sex trade follow almost every major sporting event.
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even the olympics and the world cup. so how true are they? [ sirens ] >> reporter: so we checked with police in other cities that have also hosted the super bowl. first to phoenix, the big game was there three years ago. similar warnings had phoenix pd preparing. so what happened? >> i think one of the things that people automatically assume is that, well, you've got some influential people in town, you've got some people with significant amounts of money and, therefore, you've got a whole lot of prostitution that is going to follow with that. we did not notice an increase or anything out of the ordinary. >> reporter: tampa had the super bowl in '09. the entire week leading up to it, all week long, police only made 11 prostitution arrests. and last year in miami, 14. canada debunked similar hype around the winter olympics in vancouver. concluding that sex trafficking and mega events are not linked. a european group found the same thing in germany. after rumors that 40,000
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prostitutes will go to the 2006 world cup. the estimations are, quote, unfounded and unrealistic, the group reported. >> sometimes when numbers are very high, people think it's hopeless. >> reporter: the dallas woman's foundation is researching internet ads and escort services looking for underage girls as prostitutes, hoping for the first time to see whether the super bowl really increases sex trafficking. >> how much money are you making out here at night? >> reporter: critics blame some women's groups for these rumors, trying to raise awareness without facts. no one disputes that traffic is a serious and sickening problem, but whether the super bowl intensifies it is a prediction that no one can yet prove. >> it sounds like the problem may be slightly overstated a little bit judging by that story. the one guy in dallas says there are 60 gentlemen's clubs in the dallas area. he estimates they could be 10,000 strippers short of what they need for the super bowl. >> folks in dallas, of course, don't want this going on. jason even mentioned underage
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girls, so there is a petition with 70,000 signatures asking the nfl and the host community to do something about the problem. >> are you ready for some football? something about the problem. >> are you ready for some football? but if you've been diagnosed with p.a.d., or have pain or heaviness in yur legs, i want to talk to you. you may have heard of poor leg circulation, which could be peripheral artery dsease, or p.a.d. with p.a.d., if you have poor circulation in your legs, you may also have poor circulation in your heart or in your brain, your risk for heart attack or stroke is more than doubled with p.a.d. now, ask yourself: am i at risk? if you're not sure, call for this free information kit to learn more. [ female announcer ] call the toll free number on the screen now to find out what the risks of p.a.d. really are. you'll find a 7-point checklist that helps you understand what could be putting you at risk. if you have symptoms, you'll learn how treating symptoms
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♪ i've got a book of love ♪ i've got a book of love ♪ i've got a book of love and finally this half hour, shows like "the x-files" and "friends" lead many people to ask the big question, are we alone here in the universe? well, we might be closer actually to answering that question. >> this is pretty cool. a telescope operated by nasa has spotted more than a thousand possible planet, some that might be livable. the bbc's david shukman reports. >> reporter: the deeper we look, the more we find. not just stars in their billions but orbiting around them, planets as well. new worlds emerging from the dark in far greater numbers than expected. and this is what's behind the
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latest wave of discoveries. the kepler space telescope, aimed at one piece of sky and unearthing a new solar system with six planets circling unusually close to their star. the largest batch found in one go. the mission of hunting for planets is picking up speed. the telescope watches stars to see if planets move in front of them. if they do, the stars get very slightly dimmer. the equivalent of looking at a car headlight and seeing a flea across it. the technique has found more than 500 planets already with another 1,235 possible and an astonishing 54 hospitable to life. not too warm and not too cold. >> three, two, engines start. >> reporter: it was nearly two years ago that a rocket blasted the kepler telescope into space. on board an incredibly sensitive
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camera. its key components made here in britain in these clean rooms at a high-tech firm at chelmsford and essex. here they specialize in making photographic sensors, tiny devices. this is one of them. and people here are delighted at what they're finding. >> it's fantastic. it's something that you can't get working in any other industry really besides the space environment where we get to see the results of our endeavors published, getting a very wide community of people across the world excited by these discoveries. >> reporter: who knows how many more planets they'll find. all the time raising the chances of discovering an alien world where it's possible there might be life. david shukman, bbc news. >> as we learned from mars, i think it's important to qualify what life is because just because something is habitable, it doesn't mean it's intelligent life. it could be bacteria. so there could be a lot of developing. >> interesting solar stat. before wednesday the count of confirmed planets outside of our solar system was 519, including a little planet that we live on
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this morning on "world news now," winter unleashes her wrath on a huge section of the country. in chicago, crews are working as fast as they can to clear hundreds of cars that are literally buried under snow. and as predicted, that storm has set off a domino effect on travel nationwide. it is thursday, february 3rd. this winter that just won't end. oh, it's so brutal. good morning, everybody. i'm rob nelson. >> and i'm vinita nair. and utility crews, they're going to be pretty busy today. of course, they've got to restore power to thousands of people. there was freezing rain and ice. it affected travel and it also snapped power lines in many areas. >> folks still in the dark this morning, trying to wait for that
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heat to come back on. also this morning, the deadly unrest in egypt continued into this morning's predawn hours in cairo. we'll get the latest on the changing and increasingly volatile area. the newspaper business is emerging with high-tech. you got it over there. take a look at the first daily newspaper developed for the ipad. this thing is so cool. when you play on it, if you're on it, i notice if you click on one of the images, it's a 360-degree view. >> it's really cool. it's simply called "the daily." clean layout, as well. >> cool. sign of the times. but first thousands are spending the night without electricity after that monster storm blew across the country. >> as you can imagine, crews are working around the clock now to restore power and to clear icy roads before the big morning commute. and, of course, it was really tough out there in chicago theying the windy city into chaos. t.j. winick is there with a report. fwoorng, t.j. >> reporter: good morning, rob and vinita. we want to show you some of the snow here in chicago. pretty light and fluffy. but when you get nearly 2 feet of this stuff, forget about it.
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the roads were an absolute mess. this city was brought to a standstill. chicago's lake shore drive was transformed into a frozen tundra. mile after mile, nearly 1,000 cars stuck in snow so deep, they could not possibly escape. >> i was inside with my neighbor next door here for almost seven hours. >> reporter: the monster storm roared in at rush hour. the thunder snow, the exclamation point. there were multiple accidents. all night long firefighters fanned out in snowmobiles to rescue the stranded. for 18 hours gale-force winds topping 60 miles an hour smacked the windy city. in fact, from oklahoma all the way to new england, a dangerous mix of ice, wind and snow toppled live power lines, knocking out heat and electricity in freezing temperatures. at the height of the storm, more than 250,000 people lost power
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in ohio, filling local shelters. >> the house is about 40 degrees. and we expect it to get a whole lot colder so that's why we're here. >> reporter: nearly a foot of blinding snow broke records in oklahoma and toppled rooftops in connecticut and massachusetts. flying was no better. take a look at chicago o'hare, which went from a busy airspace to a virtual standstill. closed to all commercial flights, canceled until thursday. before this week chicago's schools hadn't been closed down because of weather since 1999. later today they will be shut down for a second straight day. rob and vinita? the arctic blast is being felt as far away as mexico. snow fell in the city of juarez where a state of emergency has now been declared. schools and businesses are closed because of power problems. and it is the same story across the border in el paso, texas. where the temperature dipped to a record 7 degrees. we don't know what to do with snow in texas. we don't drive on it. we stay home. we are scared.
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>> that's right. don't mess with texas, except mother nature can mess with texas. here's a look at your forecast back home. a stormy day across parts of the south. snow and freezing rain from brownsville and houston. and jackson, mississippi. showers from orlando, atlanta and charleston, secret. light rain from seattle to portland. >> 42 in boise. 48 in albuquerque. 17 in the twin cities. detroit, 19. chicago, 22. mostly 20s in the northeast. 44 in atlanta. and just 38 degrees in new orleans. cold for the big easy. well, we turn now to egypt where the protest in cairo took a violent turn overnight as supporters and opponents of president hosni mubarak exchanged gunfire. >> it's believed now that at least five people were killed in that intensifying chaos in that country. the u.s. embassy is now telling americans in cairo to go to the airport immediately if they want to get evacuated. >> for more on the situation, we are joined from washington by steven portnoy. good morning, steven. >> reporter: vinita and rob, good morning. those violent clashes continued into the night as u.s. officials here became increasingly
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concerned that the situation in egypt will only deteriorate. this is what has become of egypt's revolution. once peaceful demonstrations now turned violent and deadly. on wednesday for the first time, pro-mubarak forces began showing up on tahrir square, the place that's become both the symbolic and physical center of the opposition. >> we are egyptian. we choose our leader. hosni mubarak is our leader. >> reporter: in an almost medieval scene, men on horseback and camels rushed the anti-government crowds trampling several people until some of the men were dragged from their mounts and beaten. >> he promised us to go peaceful. he said egyptian people would be stronger after i go. i don't think so. he will destroy the whole nation before he goes. >> reporter: as night fell, the hostility grew with both sides hurling chunks of concrete and bottles as fire bombs rained from rooftops. president mubarak has promised not to seek re-election in september. for protesters that's not
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enough. they accuse him of unleashing a force of paid supporters to crush them. >> if any of the violence is instigated by the government, it should stop immediately. >> reporter: regime supporters also unleashed their fury at the foreign press, who they claim are sympathetic to protesters. abc's christiane amanpour was one of several journalists who were confronted. as she left the scene, the crowd hit the car with their fists before throwing a rock that cracked the windshield. a peaceful transition of power now unlikely as egypt enters a dangerous new phase. here in washington the obama administration is concerned that the crisis will turn even uglier as one official put it if mubarak doesn't begin to transfer power now. vinita, rob? and all that unrest in cairo and other cities has brought regular everyday life there to a grinding halt. our lama hasan used to live in cairo and went back to her old neighborhood to see where things stand now.
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>> reporter: the cairo i remember where i lived for a year was this, busy, noisy, full of life. not today. away from the square where the protests rage, that life has come to a stop. this used to be my old neighborhood when i was living in cairo, and i remember it bustling with people. but today it is practically empty. and as you can see, many of the stores are closed. no one is coming for the chicken and fish of the food vendors. there are no children at the school. gas stations, deserted. egypt runs on cash. few have a credit card. but put your card in an atm machine and the message is, out of order. we have no money left, this man says. how are we going to live? how are we going to eat? i used to come to the supermarket for its bakery. today, what little bread they make flies off the shelf.
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families with children are desperate to buy bread, this baker told us. we're trying to keep up with demand. nerves are frayed. shoppers see our camera. they don't want us to see the empty shelves. as with so much here, it is unclear how long everyday egyptians can hold on, without enough food, with their lives at a standstill. in the afternoon, as the daily curfew sets in, these neighborhoods, away from the protests, are eerily quiet. lama hasan, abc news, cairo. >> stay with abc news throughout the day as we cover the crisis in egypt. more live reports coming up on "america this morning" and "good morning america." and for updates any time, logon to abcnews.com. well, most of the country's had its fill of ice and arctic air and snow. that's an understatement, so this is the kind of forecast we've been dreaming about. >> pennsylvania's famous groundhog punxsutawney phil emerged from his den yesterday to deliver
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good news. phil failed to see his shadow. and as superstition has it, that means we will have an early spring. >> thank god animals can predict the future. icy roads in the area, thousands of people actually turned out in the cold to see phil in action. let's all hope the critter's right. >> i have to say, he's been doing this 125 years, not that one in particular, but he's seen his shadow 98 times and hasn't seen it 15 times. so this isn't rigged, i don't think. >> really? >> maybe the rodent is right. >> i didn't know you kept tabs on phil. >> he's a friend. one four-star hotel. two identical rooms. so why does this one cost so much less on hotwire.com? when hotels have unsold rooms they use hotwire hot rates to fill them, so you get ridiculously low prices, backed by our low price guarantee. orbitz price $174. hotwire hot rate just $95. the same great room, just less than other travel sites. hotwire.com. four-star hotels. two-star prices.
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and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan. you'll get this free information kit... as with all medicare supplement plans, you can keep your own doctor and hospital that accepts # medicare, call this toll-free number now. welcome back. welcome back. well, yesterday would have been the 64th birthday of actress farrah fawcett. as you know, she passed away last year after a long battle with cancer. >> in tribute to the former charlie angel, memorabilia was
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donated to the smithsonian, including that iconic red bathing suit. here's claire shipman. >> reporter: she was the golden girl who defined an era. >> good morning, angels. >> good morning, charlie. >> reporter: from her role on "charlie's angels" to that iconic swimsuit poster. 12 million copies sold. the best-selling poster in history. and a year and a half after her death, her long-time love, ryan o'neal, is on a personal and public journey. >> it is definitely an honor. >> reporter: he's brought that red swimsuit and some other quintessential farrah fawcett memorabilia for an exhibit at the smithsonian museum of american history. i don't know any gentleman of my era who did not have one of those posters on his wall. >> she would never wear a bikini because she had a scar on her stomach, you see, from some early childhood surgery, so she never wore a two-piece. >> reporter: do you remember when you first saw the poster? >> no. >> reporter: no. >> no. did i have it in my room?
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no. >> reporter: you didn't have it in your room. >> i do now. >> reporter: do you really? >> sure. she's everywhere in my life still. >> reporter: his almost every word, even his attempts at banter, still laced with grief at the loss of his romantic companion of 30 years to cancer. she had such an impact on people with what she did at the end of her life. >> yeah. yeah. the end of her life. that was hard. >> reporter: still hard for you to talk about. how are you doing? >> how am i? >> reporter: how are you? >> i'm okay. i'm lonely. what year is that? >> reporter: it doesn't say what year. must have been 1976. >> something like that. >> reporter: yeah, i think so. and then a farrah doll. >> yeah. >> reporter: you have one of those. >> i have my own farrah doll. the wig is always coming off. >> reporter: all of it will be part of the american pop culture collection, which includes dorothy's ruby red slippers and the original muppet team.
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what resonates, what really belongs in the museum of american history and what doesn't make the cut? >> sometimes it's very hard, but with an image like the poster, the farrah poster, it's not hard at all because that poster is emblazoned on so many people's memories. >> reporter: but, in fact, what may really connect the public to farrah fawcett, her public displays of vulnerability. >> no film, no film. >> reporter: especially her brutally honest examination of her own struggle with cancer in her documentary "farrah's story". >> she had no compunction. she had no problem doing that at all. it was never a question. >> reporter: what do you think she would want her legacy to be? >> she was a mother. that was the thing that appealed to her most. to raise her son. and she adored him. and i think that's -- that's the tragedy of this is that she lost him and he lost her.
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>> reporter: and, of course, her son redman o'neal has been in and out of rehab and jail for drug abuse, but he's here with his father and his dad says he's working to make farrah proud. claire shipman, abc news, washington. >> everyone knows that famous red bathing suit. she actually framed it herself and had it stored in a warehouse in l.a. before it went to the museum. but a piece of history. >> i never thought it was burnt orange. i thought it was red, also. >> it faded over time. it was red, now more orangy. >> elton john has a serious message for billy joel and billy joel quickly responds. >> the piano man getting nasty. also, how lindsay lohan got in trouble after stopping at a swanky jewelry store. don't miss your skinny. don't miss your skinny. swanky jewelry store.
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♪ skinny so skinny ♪ skinny so skinny i always thought that the world of frenemies was populated by pretty much women. >> not in this case. >> but if you're wondering, some male frenemies, elton john and billy joel. >> what a war between those two.
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>> you probably heard the first part of this, that elton john was doing an interview in "rolling stone" and he basically called billy joel to the mat. he said, more or less, you know, you are not doing well professionally. he says, you basically are lazy. he says, you can write another song, you could do a lot of things. he also poked at him and said, you know, when you go to rehab, you're going to what he called rehab light. he said when i go to rehab, i clean -- i cleaned floors. i really got into it. he says, as a friend, this is tough love. people adore you. they love you and they respect you. you should be able to do better than you're doing right now. so billy joel came out with his response. and a lot of people anticipated he would say something like, i hate him. instead, he says, i've worked with elton for such a long time and i've enjoyed our relationship too much to let something as random as these comments change my affection for him. elton is just being elton. >> wow. that's a gracious -- well, that's a line there too but more gracious than folks would have expected. why was elton up in billy's face. >> i don't know.
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age difference is 63 for elton and 61 for billy joel. and they are good friends. they've toured a lot. so like i said, in elton john's defense, he says this is tough love. he says, i really just want to help him out. you have demons and you're not getting rid of them. >> all right. maybe they can have a drink and work it out. lindsay lohan, sadly and annoyingly back in the news again. apparently there was an incident back on january 22nd, she's in some kind of pricey jewelry store in venice in the l.a. area and apparently was caught on videotape stealing a necklace worth $2,500, which for her is not a lot of money. apparently there's definitive evidence that she took this thing, so once there was a warrant to search her house for this necklace, mysteriously a friend of the actress returned the necklace back to the store saying here you go but it's still under investigation. of course, if she's busted for this, it violates the probation she's been under since 1960 whatever for drunk driving or whatever it seems like. so just back in trouble again, and this isn't the first brush. in 2007 she was accused of stealing $10,000 worth of shoes and accessories from a former friend. then in 2008, just a year later,
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she accidentally grabbed an $11,000 mink coat from a new york club and was photographed with it later which is how the owner found out. just keep your hands to yourself, lindsay lohan. >> my heart breaks for her though because it's such a sad, messed up -- >> she should stop taking it lightly and make her pay for this stuff. >> if you watch "snl," they did a transgender skit, promoting something they called once daily estro-maxx, a pill designed to give you all the sex-changing hormones you need. take a look. >> because i don't want to spend my day taking estrogen but i do want to become a woman. >> i'm becoming the person i want to be and without the hassle. thanks, estro-maxx. >> as you can imagine they're demanding an apologize. they're saying it's not funny solely on degrading the lives of transgend der ed people.
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they are publicly asking for an apology now. >> that's their whole history of politically incorrect. i wonder if they'll bow down and offer an apology. >> they say it was blatantly anti-transgender, the whole segment. >> we'll see. we'll see. and if you wake up often in the middle of the night... rest is here, on the wings of lunesta. lunesta helps you fall asleep and stay asleep, so you can wake up feeling rested. when taking lunesta, don't drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase these risks. allergic reactions, such as tongue or throat swelling, occur rarely and may be fatal. side effects may include unpleasant taste, headache, dizziness and morning drowsiness. ask your doctor if lunesta is right for you. get lunesta for a $0 co-pay at lunesta.com.
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here's some stories to watch today on abc news. pres here's some stories to watch today on abc news. president obama visits pennsylvania state university today. he is delivering a message about energy efficiency and job creation. astronaut mark kelly will leave his wife's bedside today. he is, of course, married to congresswoman gabby giffords. he will be attending the national prayer breakfast in washington. and preordering begins today for verizon's version of the iphone. the phones go on sale next week. the cheapest model costs $200. and finally this half hour, apple's ipad, of course, has changed a lot of how people do just about everything these days, but can it actually change forever how we read the newspaper? >> rupert murdoch certainly
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hopes so with the launch of the first ever ipad-only newspaper. the bbc's rory cellan jones has a closer look at "the daily." >> reporter: he's the man who broke the print unions and brought satellite tv to britain. now rupert murdoch has embarked on what could be an even riskier venture. >> ladies and gentlemen, "the daily." [ applause ] >> reporter: it's a newspaper only available for now on apple's ipad. "the daily" is a mixture of series serious news, celebrity gossip and high-tech tricks aimed at american readers willing to pay 99 cents a week, about 60 pence, to download it each day. >> no paper, no multimillion dollar process, no tracks, and we're passing on these savings to the reader. >> reporter: the papers are continuing to see readers just melt away. plenty of them are going online but they don't seem inclined to pay when so much news is available for free on the web. so the newspaper groups have latched onto this device in a rather desperate hope that it can provide an income for journalism.
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some traditional papers and magazines have persuaded readers to pay for ipad additions. though subscribers' early enthusiasm seems to fade. >> everybody is desperate for some glimmer of light to the extent that probably most people are attaching too much significance to devices such as the ipad. but i think major news organizations know there's not one way forward. no one device will save the newspaper industry. >> reporter: it may be cheap to run, but skeptics say "the daily" won't find the 500,000 subscribers it needs to cover costs. for once though murdoch's rivals in the hard press newspaper trade are hoping he does succeed. rory cellan jones, bbc news. >> in case you're wondering, this whole thing is put together by reporters in new york and los angeles as well as a network of freelancers out there. but pretty cool app. everything at your fingertips. >> they say there are 17 million people with ipads so their thought process is if 5% of people buy this app, it should
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be a success. >> you could be looking at the future of our industry here. no kidding. more from abc coming right up. .
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